by Nick Evans

Car importer Gefco has vowed it will not close its Sheerness depot - despite being hit with a "devastating" £3million business rates bill for the site.

The French owned company brings in thousands of Peugeot and Citroen cars through the docks and has been disputing the demand since late last year.

The Valuation Office Agency, part of HM Revenue and Customs, imposed additional busines rates on port companies, backdated to April 2005, after allegedly discovering a loophole in the rules governing contributions to port owners by companies moving goods in and out of the UK.

Gefco UK director Howard Nash said: "With the car industry already on its knees, this couldn’t have come at a worse time for us. The bill was unexpected and is a devastating blow."

He said the company would not close its Sheerness operation, where more than 100 people work, but would explore a number of options enabling it to claw back the cash from the business as a whole. This might include transferring some work from Sheerness to Gefco's base in Calais, but nothing had yet been decided.

Mr Nash added Gefco is working to gain the support of MPs in hope of getting the rate bill overturned but has been making payments to HM Revenue and Customs in the meantime.

He said: "Gefco is a large company and will survive this but I do worry for smaller companies in Sheerness in the same situation as us. This could drive some of them out of business."